Adding years to life and life to years
- Published: 14 August 2008 09:00
- Last Updated: 14 August 2008 15:14
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World class commissioning is about "adding years to life and life to years" by targeting health interventions and treatment at those who will benefit most.
It's a phrase that may sound like just another bit of business speak, something that could mean anything or nothing, but in fact it describes an ambitious NHS project to do something that no health system in the world has ever tried before: to tailor health and social care to the explicit needs of a defined community.
Sir Derek Wanless's 2002 report for the Treasury on the long-term resource needs of the NHS demonstrated that to tackle the diseases of the 21st century - alcoholism, obesity, mental health - it will not be enough to just treat and cure.
